Words of Cheer and Encouragement

We're going to read together the Word of God in Psalm 84, the

Psalm 84, reading from verse one.

And the psalmist says how amiable or how lovely are thy

tabernacles, O Lord of hosts, My soul longeth, yeah, even

fainteth, for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God.

Yeah, this Sparrow hath found in house and the swallowing nest

for herself where she me lay her young, Even thine altars.

O Lord of hosts, my King and my God, blessed are they that dwell

in my house. They will be still praising

thee, Sealer. Blessed is the man whose

strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them who,

passing through the valley of Becca, make it a well.

The rein also filleth the pools. They go from strength to

strength. Everyone of them in Sion

appeareth before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my

prayer, give, hear, O God of Jacob, Selah.

Behold our God, O God, our shield, and look upon the face

of thine anointed, for a day in thy courts is better than 1000.

I had rather be a door keeper in the House of my God than to

dwell in the tents of wickedness, for the Lord God is

a son and shield. The Lord will give grace and

glory. No good thing will He withhold

from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the

man that trusteth in thee. And we know the Lord will add

His own blessing to the public reading of His precious word.

We will open our Bibles once again in Psalm 84, Psalm 84, and

in verse 11, the psalmist tells us the Lord God is a sun and

shield. The Lord will give grace and

glory. No good thing will he withhold

from them that walk uprightly. And with the word of the Lord

before us, let us unite our hearts for a moment again in

prayer our love. We do know that thou hast hung

all the divine glory on thy well beloved Son.

We know, Lord, that Thou art the brightness of the Father's glory

and the express image of His person.

And so we pray, as we turn to Thy precious word, that our

hearts will be taken up with Thyself.

O Lord, reveal Thyself beyond the sacred page and help us to

learn more of Thee. Help us to walk before the Lord

unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and

increasing in the knowledge of God.

So pour out of Thy Spirit, give wisdom, give grace, whereby we

may serve thee acceptably, with reverence and with godly fear.

We ask it in the Saviour's name. Amen.

What a wonderful affection and regard David had for the temple

in Jerusalem. He had watched it with loving

eyes, and he had watched the words, finding rest and refuge

by the altars in the temple. David had known the blessedness

of dwelling within its precincts.

He had also known the bitterness of absence from it, so that he

longed, as we have read in this Psalm, he longed to be even a

doorkeeper in the House of God. So what was it that drew David's

heart to the temple? It was the Lord's presence

there. There he beheld the beauty of

the Lord, and there he sought the Lord's face in prayer.

It was not a superstitious regard for the place that made

it so special. It was a meeting place, the

place where David met with the Lord.

He speaks of the Lord in our text in glowing terms.

The Lord God is a sun and shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.

It is so clear that the Lord was everything to David.

The Lord is still everything to His people today.

What tremendous words are these? Words full of cheer, of

encouragement and promise. There are three principal things

that we want to consider together from verse 11.

First of all, we come to the comparisons that David draws.

The Lord God is a sun and shield and when we think of the sun,

this is an impressive comparison.

What a word picture we have before us.

Consider the immensity of the sun and when we go back to

creation in Genesis 1 and the verse 16, here's what we read

concerning the sun. God made 2 great lights.

The greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule

the night, the greater light the sun.

This is an impressive comparison.

We think of the immensity of the sun.

The sun. It's shone on Adam walking in

the Garden of Eden. It stood still in the valley of

Angelon as Joshua was engaged in battle.

It shone on the dial of Ahas. It beat down on the head of

Jonah. It has shone for 6000 years and

it still shines undiminished. The Sun, we are told, is

95,000,000 miles from the Earth, whereas the Moon is 240,000

miles away. We know that man has travelled

to the moon, but the sun is far beyond his reach.

The Sun 900,000 miles in the amateur.

It can easily contain the earth a million times over.

Those statistics are mind boggling.

All the immensity of the sun. It's a fitting picture of the

Lord God who is infinite. The prophet Isaiah in Isaiah

Isaiah 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24 and the verse 23. Isaiah 24, verse 23.

Isaiah 24:23

He says, Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed,

when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in

Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

The glory of the sun, in other words, will be as nothing

compared with the Lord's glory. The glory of the great King, and

only head of the Church is all surpassing.

So keep before you in this comparison the immensity, the

Infinity of God. The Lord, like the Son, abides

through endless years. The same in Isaiah chapter 44

Isaiah 44 · chapter mention

and verse 8. The Lord gives this challenge.

Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that

time and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses.

Is there a God beside me? Yeah.

There is no God I know not any. There is none like the Lord in

heaven above or in the earth beneath.

He is glorious in holiness. He is fearful in praise.

He's the God that doeth wonders. The immensity of the sun.

Then we should consider too, the illumination of the sun.

Can you imagine what the world would be like without the sun?

What a dark place if there were no bright rays from the greater

light. We know when the plague of

darkness fell on Egypt, such was its density.

No one could move but God's people.

Israel had light in their homes, in their dwellings.

You see, the Lord is the light of His people.

By His saving grace He has brought us out of our natural

sinful darkness into His marvellous light.

And with Psalm 27 and verse one, we can reiterate the Lord is my

light and my salvation with the same assurance as the hymn

writer we took and say, I look to Jesus and I found in Him my

star and my son. And in that light of life I'll

walk till travelling days are done.

The immensity and the illumination.

We also consider the impact of the sun through the dreary

winter months. Nature lies dormant, but in the

spring, what a difference. The deadness of winter is

replaced with life. All of nature comes alive.

It revives. No wonder the psalmist said in

Psalm 19 and verse 6 concerning the sun, there is nothing hid

from the heat thereof, Nothing hid from the heat thereof.

The common dandelion, when the sun goes down, it disappears for

the night. You cannot yellow flower, but in

the morning sun the dandelion revives.

It lifts up its head, and may the Lord visit His church as the

Son visits nature. We need to be revived, or we

must seek earnestly the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in the

reviving the quickening of our hearts.

Our prayers should be as in Psalm 85 and verse 6.

Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in

thee? Campbell Morgan, the great

preacher in Westminster Chapel in London.

And he said we cannot organise A revival, but we can set our

sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow

on his people once again. Or may we have the seals of our

life set to catch the wind of the Spirit.

The Lord God is a son, our text says.

And then we see the other part of the comparison.

The Lord God is a son and shield.

This defence of armour, consider its proximity a shield, it will

always be at hand. It's there between the warrior

and the danger that he faces. And so the Lord, our shield is

always at hand. We do not have to bring him from

afar. In Psalm 125 and the second

verse, we breed. As the mountains are round about

Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people.

From henceforth, even forever, the Lord will be at your hand,

believer as your shield every step of the way.

He will be your present help. We think of Abraham and the the

difficulties that he faced there in Genesis chapter 15 when verse

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

one says after these things. The word of the Lord came on to

Abraham in a vision saying after these things, after what things

we go, go into chapter 14 of Genesis.

Abraham fought with the 5 kings, and after that warfare, Abraham

was apprehensive that those 5 kings would come against him

once again. And so the Lord draws near to

his servant, saying, fear not Genesis 15 verse one, Fear not,

Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.

Oh, just as the Lord knew how to meet with Abraham in his

extremity and in the hour of his need, so he will meet with us in

our need. He's our shield.

The proximity offered, the invincibility offered.

It's not a toy. It's not a plastic shield.

It's invincible against every thrust of the enemy.

In Ezekiel chapter 27 and verse 11, it's recorded of the

Ezekiel 27 · chapter mention

soldiers of Tyre that they hanged their Shields upon the

walls roundabout. In other words, those Shields

were hung up in public. The Shields were put on display.

They were emblems of the victories that those soldiers

had won. The Lord, our shield, his right

hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory, said the

psalmist. We remember when Joshua faced

Jericho with its stout walls. Wall to heaven it seemed.

It's defence seems so secure and sure unless Joshua faced it.

In Joshua chapter 5 and verse 14 there was a theophany, A

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

preincarnation appearance of the Lord to Joshua.

In verse 13 of chapter 5 in Joshua, it came to pass.

When he was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked,

and behold, there stood a man over against him, with his sword

drawn in his hand. And Joshua went on to him, and

said, Art thou for us, art for our adversaries?

O, the Lord was at hand with Joshua as he faced Jericho.

The Lord was the one with the sword drawn in his hand.

He's the man of war. Or let us take the shield of

faith, and with it quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

May we be like those who have gone before, who have

experienced victories. May we see the gospel impacting

on our community. May we see the grim towers of

spiritual darkness and the ramparts of sin brought down.

And may we see again the cross holding sway in society.

May it be true of us as of Abraham, recorded there in

Romans chapter 4 verses 20 and 21.

Romans 4:20

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was

strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that

what He had promised, he was able also to perform.

Oh, the comparisons that David draws.

The Lord God is a sun and shield.

And then the comfort that David derives, for he says the Lord

will give grace and glory. Grace is the favour, it's the

loving kindness, it's the blessing that flows into our

lives so undeservedly. Ruth was so overwhelmed by the

favour, the grace that Boaz demonstrated to her in Ruth

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and verse 10. She fell on her face.

She bowed herself to the ground and said unto Boaz, Why have I

found grace in thy eyes, that thou should take knowledge of

me, saying I am a stranger? She saw herself so undeserving

of the grace, and the God of all grace promises to give it to us.

And how constant and continual is our need of the grace of God.

We are totally inadequate in the flesh when we think of the work

that has to be done, the race that has to be run, the warfare

that has to be accomplished. In all of these areas we need

grace to help. We need grace to help us in our

trials. The thorn in the flesh.

What a great trial. It presented to Paul three times

He prayed earnestly for its removal, and his prayer was

answered in this way in 2nd Corinthians 12 and verse 9.

The Lord answered Paul's prayer, saying, My grace is sufficient

for thee, and that word sufficient is key.

It has within it the thought that the supply will exactly

correspond need. And whatever the trial, whoever

great it may be, there's sufficient grace for you and I.

We need grace to help in our trials.

We need it in our temptations. Temptation is common to man

right from the Garden of Eden. There has been no exception,

exemption from temptation. We face temptation not only from

without, but also from within. Peter wrote to those believers

scattered abroad and in first Peter chapter 1 verses 5 and 6,

1 Peter 1:5

he can assure them that they are kept by the power of God through

faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time in

verse 6 wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season

if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.

There were numerous temptations that these believers face and

you and I need prison. God said to to Abimelech

concerning Sarah in Genesis chapter 20 and verse six.

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

I withheld. I kept thee from sinning against

me. Or may we watch and pray and

seek grace to be kept from sinning against the Lord.

May we be kept amid temptations, snares.

We need grace to help in our trials, in our temptations, in

our tasks for the Lord. A great work lies to hand, a

work for which none of us is sufficient.

But God is able to make all grace abound toward us, so that

we always having all sufficiency and all things may abound to

every good work. One of the Puritans prayed,

Lord, please either lighten the load or strengthen my back.

O the Lord's grace is sufficient to strengthen our back, to bear

the load. He will give grace and glory.

He will give present glory. The Lord who is a Son will give

glory. There's a glory about the sun, a

little bit of broken glass when the sun beams directly dishes

with the brilliance out, shining many a diamond walking in the

light of Christ your light, your life will shine with a divine

glory. The Lord praying with the Father

in John 17 and verse 22. He can say the glory which thou

givest me, I have given them. I have given glory to my people.

In Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 23, there were those who took

Zechariah 8 · chapter mention

hold of the skirt, the garment of him that was a Jew.

They took hold of the garment saying, We will go with you, for

we have heard that God is with you.

You see the Lord's people there, there was an attraction, there

was an A drawing power that drew others to them.

We read of Paul's experience among the churches in Galatia in

Galatians chapter 4 and verse 1314 and 15.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Paul says she know how through infirmity of the flesh I

preached the gospel unto you at the 1st, and my temptation,

which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected.

And then he says, You received me as an Angel of God, even as

Christ Jesus. And we read in verse 15 where

Paul says, I bear you record that if it had been possible,

you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to

me. Oh, they were drawn to Paul.

They would have done anything for Paul.

The glory of the Lord may it be seen in our lives, drawing

others to the Saviour. He will give glory, present

glory, He will give future glory.

When the days of this life are over, we will sit down with

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven.

As soon as this earthly house is dissolved, we have a building of

God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.

And of this glory that is ahead we can only have a faint

understanding until we hear the Lord's voice saying, Come and

see. Notice that grace and glory are

coupled together. Apart from saving grace, none

can see heaven's glory. Heaven would be as hell without

the renewing, regenerating grace of God.

Only saving grace can fit sinners for glory.

What about yourself? Are you saved by grace?

A Sinner saved by grace alone? Can you say it is well with my

soul? The last verse of Psalm 84 it

says blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Is your trust this morning? Is it fixed in Christ?

Is it truly well with your soul? Lastly, we see the confidence

David displays when he says the Lord will withhold no good thing

from them that walk uprightly what is truly good.

The Lord alone is the infallible judge.

The Lord is truly good and do us good.

The burdens and the buffetings of life, The Lord will turn them

around for His people's good. And at the end of the journey,

they will bless the hand that guided, the heart that planned

when throned, where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.

He will withhold no good thing from them that Noah's generation

was exceedingly wicked, a godless generation.

But it's recorded of Noah there in Genesis 6:00 and 9:00.

He was a just man, perfect in his generation.

He walked uprightly. The verse says Noah walked with

God while others walked with the devil.

Noah walked with God. All may you and I be as an

Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.

And when we walk with God, then He will give off His blessing.

He has all good things, all good gifts at His disposal.

He is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all

that we can ask or think. So when may we see the arm of

the Lord revealed? May we see His Kingdom come, His

church built, the gates of hell not prevailing against it, His

name glorified and exalted far above all the Lord God is a sun

and shield. The Lord will give grace and

glory. No good thing will He withhold

from them that walk uprightly. May the Lord bless His word to

each of our hearts.